If you’re undergoing a remodeling project in 2018, then it can be good to keep up to date with what’s popular in the world of design. You want to pick a countertop style that’s current and trendy, but that will also stand the test of time and won’t be out of style within a couple of years.

So, here are a few of the most popular countertop trends for 2018.

Quartz

Granite has long been the poster child for attractive countertops, but it has had quartz as a competitor for the last couple of years, and that’s not going to change. The popularity of quartz looks set to stay thanks to its non-porous properties meaning it doesn’t need sealing regularly like granite does. This also makes it a more hygienic surface for preparing food as it won’t retain germs and bacteria as much as granite. On top of this, quartz provides a great looking surface and is just as tough and durable as granite.

Integrated sinks

Homeowners looking for a more modern, seamless look in their kitchen or bathroom are opting for integrated sinks. This means that the sink is made from the same material as the countertop and one simply flows into the next. As well as the visual appeal that this style offers, it is also extremely practical. Cleaning and wiping down surfaces becomes much easier as there is no break in the surface, and you don’t have to worry about the build-up of bacteria in the gaps between the sink and the countertop.

Go neutral

More and more people are ditching bright and bold countertops for more neutral grays, creams, and beiges. This gives the countertops a much softer feel and doesn’t detract too much attention away from other features of the room. Quartz especially lends itself to this neutral style as it can be crafted in a wide variety of colors and hues. So, if you’re set on having a colored countertop, you could have a quartz slab that’s a soft blue or pink, remaining fairly neutral while still adding a splash of color.

Patterns and textures

If you’re worried about all this neutrality making your kitchen look boring, then don’t worry because patterned and textured countertops are also in style. Textures like honed or leather finishes are adding character to people’s countertops, while the engineering of quartz countertops allows for natural-looking veining and patterns to be added to the surface for a natural stone look.

What countertop style do you fancy for your kitchen or bathroom in 2018? Try out our visualizer tools to help you choose your countertop design. And if you need any help choosing or installing your countertops, then get in touch with us today. We serve the Triad area including Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and Kernersville.

With a range of striking natural patterns available from marble stone, marble countertops can fit in well with a wide range of room styles. Marble is a popular choice for both kitchen and bathroom countertops, but it has a few downsides. Read on to find out more about marble countertops and decide whether or not they are right for you.

Pros

Appearance – The main reason people opt for marble countertops is for the striking appearance of the stone. It has a traditional, elegant look that can really complement the style of a room. It might not be your top choice if you’re going for a more modern style, however. Each piece of marble is completely one of a kind with a variety of tones and unique veining patterns.

Heat resistant – Marble is no stranger to markings, but one thing it can withstand is heat. So, you’d be fine placing a hot pan on your kitchen countertops or leaving a curling iron by your kitchen sink as it cools down.

Cool surface – Marble provides a nice cool surface. So, if you’re fond of baking, it makes a great surface for working with pastry on.

Cons

Easy to stain – Marble probably isn’t the best stone to choose for your countertops if you are particularly obsessive about keeping them in pristine condition. Marble is a porous material, making it extremely easy to stain if you spill on it, especially with acidic liquids or foods. This can leave your countertops with permanent water-marks and other etches. Getting your marble properly sealed helps to fight the likelihood of staining, but this will need redoing on a regular basis.

Not scratch resistant – As well as staining, marble is also prone to scratches. One wrong move with a sharp knife or a heavy pan can lead to deep chips or scratches on your countertop surface. However, these stains, scratches, and etches that come from everyday wear and tear often blend into the veining pattern of the marble and can even add more character to your countertops.

So, if you don’t mind your countertops showing evidence of wear and tear, or if you’re willing and able to keep them pristine, then marble countertops are a great choice to give your kitchen or bathroom an elegant, timeless feel to them. If you do go for marble countertops, these care and maintenance tips will help you keep them in good shape.

If you’re looking for marble countertops and installation services, get in touch with Amanzi Granite. We proudly service the Triad area, including Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and Kernersville. If you’re still not sure, then read the thoughts of someone who had marble countertops installed in their home.

There are a lot of decisions to make when it comes to renovation and remodeling. This usually involves a lot of wandering around stores and showrooms to browse all the different options you have, which can be tiresome and time-consuming. Wouldn’t it be better if you could just drive up to a store knowing exactly what you want and buy it there and then?

Well, now you can!

With the amount of information readily available online, you can now do a lot of your redesign research without leaving the comfort of your own home. You can read pros and cons and customer reviews to help you decide on designs, materials, and colors. For deciding on the design for your countertops, you can also use a countertop design tool to help you imagine what different countertops will look like in your home.

On our website, you will find the following tools to help you select the perfect countertops for your home:

• Kitchen Visualizer Tool
• Bathroom Visualizer Tool
• Countertop Edge Visualizer

Using these tools, you can select different combinations of materials, patterns, colors, and edge profiles to get a vision of how they will look together for your countertops. Seeing the countertops makes it much easier to make a decision than having to imagine what they’ll look like in your head. It’s the next best thing after seeing it in real life, letting you do a lot of the decision-making before you actually go out to any stores.

Our kitchen and bathroom visualizer tools also help you to imagine what your countertops will look like in the room as a whole, allowing you to see how a certain material or edge profile will complement the design of the rest of the room. This is also useful if you are remodelling the entire room and have other decisions to make, such as what material you want for your floor.

Using these tools, you can select your flooring material, the colors of your cabinets, and the style of your backsplash in the kitchen. Doing so can help you envision the whole kitchen and bathroom to help you make the right design decisions. Our site also features a Project Estimate Tool so you can make sure all your choices still fit within your budget.

So, get online today in the comfort of your own home or come into our showroom, and work with one of our account managers who can assist you on our in-house kiosks. Amanzi Granite serves customers in Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and Kernersville, North Carolina. Get in touch if you have any questions.

Kitchens. They’re all different! Just like the people who design them are all different. This means there’s no one size fits all solution to designing and remodeling a kitchen. They have to be designed around your preferences, your budget, and what you’ll be using the space for. It’s all incredibly personal to the people designing it, and so the experience of shopping for all the elements of your new kitchen should be personal, too.

Maybe you’ve spent hours trawling through websites researching design ideas, materials, colors, etc., and still haven’t managed to make any solid decisions. This is why we’re reinventing the process of shopping for your kitchen or bathroom countertops. Sure, you can get some great ideas and conduct preliminary research online first, but bringing the whole room together requires you to see and feel the materials first-hand.

Our new showroom gives our customers a personalized design experience to help them complete the perfect remodel. Our showroom features large slabs of stone in a wide variety of materials, patterns, textures, and colors. So, you can get up close and personal with various countertop options to really get a sense of how it would look and feel in your home. This is the best way to know if the countertop you have in mind will be the right fit. Have a look at granite, quartz, and marble countertops to compare these stunning stone materials.

We also have design rooms where you can browse specific design elements such as edge profiles. Scrolling through images of dozens of edge variations can be confusing, but seeing it in real life can clear things up in your mind. See different edge profiles on specific materials so you don’t have to imagine how one will look on another. You can finalize all the details of your countertops and walk away feeling happy.

If you’re remodeling a kitchen or bathroom and are struggling to make decisions on what kind of countertops to have, then visit our showroom in Kernersville for a more personalized shopping experience and for our expert advice. Contact us at Amanzi Marble, Granite & Tile if you would like to know more about our new showroom or any of our services. We serve a wide area in North Carolina, including Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and Kernersville.

If you’ve gone through the process of selecting a material and design for your stone countertops, the next step is finding a supplier and installation company that can get the job done for you. Obviously, you’ll want the best quality products for your bathroom or kitchen countertops, and you need a professional that can install them without a hitch.

If you still haven’t decided on the perfect stone countertop, try out our countertop design tool to help you visualize the end results, available for both kitchen countertops and bathroom countertops.

To help you choose a supplier and installer for your kitchen or bathroom countertops once you’re ready, here are a few things you should consider when conducting your search and making your final choice.

Get recommendations

It may be that a friend or family member has recently had stone countertops installed in their house. If this is the case, you can ask them which supplier and installer they used, what their experience was with them, and whether they’d recommend them. If they weren’t happy with the company’s service or results, then you might want to cross them off your list.

The right product

When looking for a countertop supplier, the most basic requirement is that they stock the type of stone that you have chosen for your kitchen or bathroom. Ask any potential suppliers about their products and ask to see their stock to check that it meets your standards.

The right price

Obviously, budget is a big factor as well when choosing a countertop supplier and installer. Request estimates from the contractors you are considering so you can compare their offerings. If you let the contractors know that you are getting estimates from multiple companies, then they may be more likely to give you a competitive deal to win your custom.

Check their credentials

It’s not all about price, of course; you don’t want to just go for the cheapest option if they won’t provide the quality. Check if they have any professional accreditations to assure you of their credibility. It is also worth asking to see examples of their previous work to prove the quality of their service, as well as reviews and testimonials from past customers. Online review sites such as Yelp.com can help you see the good and bad of potential contractors.

If you’re ready to look for a countertop supplier and installer, then these tips should help you narrow down a list of potential contractors for the job. If you’re located around Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, or Kernersville, we’d recommend adding Amanzi Granite to that list, so get in touch if you have any questions about our stone countertops and installation services.

You thought there were lots of decisions to make when choosing your stone countertop, but now you need to decide what kind of edge your countertop will have and you’re completely lost amongst all the options.

One of the most exciting aspects when finalizing your new stone countertop is selecting the edge.

You’ve got eased edges, waterfall, bevel, double bevel, bullnose, half bullnose, step half bullnose, bevel bullnose, and that’s not even the half of it! It may be confusing, but the countertop edge you choose could be the pièce de résistance for the entire room, so choose wisely.

Here are some things to consider when choosing an edge profile for your stone countertops.

Do you want the edge to stand out or blend in?

Simple edge profiles aren’t going to shout out at people as soon as they enter the room. Depending on your preference, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. You need to decide if you want your stone countertops to be the focal point of the room. If there are too many fancy details in a room, then it can feel like too much. So, if you already have an intricate design on another element of the room, then it may be best to keep things simple when it comes to edging.

More intricate edge profiles such as the Ogee Edge or Triple Waterfall Edge will draw more attention. Having these edges on countertops around your entire kitchen may be too much for your taste, but it can still be a nice touch to have these edges on a kitchen island while the wall countertops are edged with a simpler profile.

Modern or traditional?

Think about the style of the room – are you going for a modern look or something more traditional? Many of the simple edge profiles can suit either style, while some of the sleeker ones, such as the flat edge, give a more modern finish. The more intricate edges, such as the ogee or small bevel edges, give an elegant look to your countertops, ideal for more traditional kitchens or bathrooms.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when choosing an edge profile for your stone countertops. Make sure that the edge you choose is available for the material you have selected and the thickness of your countertop. Edge profiles that are perfect for granite countertops may not work as well for marble and quartz.

To help you pick the perfect profile, try out our countertop edge visualizer to see how it will look. Get in touch with us for any and all your residential or commercial countertop needs. We are always finding the best ways of “Creating Beauty That Lasts a Lifetime.”

Amanzi proudly service the Triad area, including Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and Kernersville.

There are plenty of options when it comes to choosing a material for your bathroom or kitchen countertops; marble, quartz, and the one at the top of many people’s list, granite. If you’ve decided on granite, there are even more choices to make in choosing the perfect granite countertop.

If it’s time for a kitchen remodel, or if you are selecting options for a new home or business, keep these five things in mind when choosing your granite countertops.

Color

There’s a huge array of colors to choose from for your kitchen countertops – greys, browns greens, blacks, whites, and beiges. Think about the color scheme of the room, and the finish of your cabinets, to find a color of granite that complements them.

It’s a good idea to take in color samples, cabinet doors, even flooring pieces when shopping for granite countertops.  Our Account Managers can assist you in obtaining the perfect combination for a new home, existing property or commercial building. Consider the amount of light in the room as well to decide whether a darker or lighter granite would be best.

Edge

Think about the style of edge you’d like for your countertop. There are a number of choices that suit granite countertops, such as a bevelled or bull-nosed edge, and you may want to look at the popular new waterfall edge and side.  Try out our countertop edge visualizer to get an idea of your options.

Pattern

You also have a range of choices for the veining, and pattern of your stone countertop. Granite countertops can be solid, marbled, or speckled, producing dramatically different effects. If you’re going for a minimalistic look, then you could keep things simple with a solid-colored countertop. Or choose from a wide variety of colors that contrasts each slab to add in speckling or marbling.

Finish

Choose from three different finishes – polished, honed, or leather. A polished finish produces a smooth, shiny surface. Polished granite is less porous than other options.  Honing cuts down on the shine, providing more of a matte finish. A leather finish makes the countertop surface textured, like leather.

If you need kitchen or bathroom countertops and a company that can laser template any area in your home, along with a professional team to install your countertops, contact Amanzi. We’re located in Kernersville, NC, but we serve a wider area in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Check out our service map to see if you’re in reach.